Recap: ‘The Newsroom’ S3E1 “Boston”

In case you’re a real rookie, all that you missed in the first two seasons of “The Newsroom” is, well, everything. The show centers around Atlantic Cable News, a fictional news network based in Manhattan, and the drama of working behind the camera on news stories such as the bombing at the Boston Marathon (which dominated the season three premiere).

Photo courtesy of HBO

The first two 10-episode seasons followed MacKenzie “Mac” McHale’s (Emily Mortimer) attempted reinvention of ACN’s nightly program, “Newsnight,” while the quirky and brilliant producer battled with her ex-boyfriend/love-of-her-life Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), who also happens to be the executive producer and anchor of the show.

Whoa, way to keep it simple, Aaron Sorkin. As if their mutual baggage wasn’t enough, the entire crew finds themselves weaving around obstacles ranging from hookups and power outages to lawsuits over tampered tapes and fabricated news to eventually end up here, with an audience that won’t stop swooning over the newsroom drama and Mackenzie’s new engagement ring. (Will didn’t go to Jared. He went to Tiffany’s like a millionaire, Manhattenite news anchor should.)

Now to the good stuff: season three. The premiere started out with the coverage of the bombing incident at the Boston Marathon, slipping in references to the overwhelming amount of inaccurate coverage from real media sources in the event. Mac and Will laced wedding plans into their daily news coverage conversations, as Will tried to catch up to Mac and her nine-person bridal party. Oh, and Maggie (Alison Pill) has her golden locks back. Phew.

Sloan (Olivia Munn) is as sassy, fierce and obsessed with economics as ever, and isn’t afraid to show it to her kind-of-boyfriend, Don (Thomas Sadoski). Jim (John Gallagher Jr.) somehow escorted his girlfriend, Hallie (Grace Gummer) straight off the campaign bus and into the ACN newsroom to join the madness, also.

Neal, suddenly grown out of his Big Foot obsession, finds himself in trouble when he receives thousands of stolen government documents via an online source, and throws the network back into the courtroom they just barely crawled out of.

To top it all off, Sloan uses her new, $24,000 a year Bloomberg Terminal to break the news of a hostile company takeover to Reese (Chris Messina).

Sorkin opened up the season to issues and conflicts in every direction, giving me no doubt that I will be bawling my eyes out at some point in the season, if not just at the end. HBO officially announced that this season is the third and last for “The Newsroom,” but I’ll be here the whole way with weekly recaps in case you just can’t handle the emotional roller coaster enough to watch by yourself.